No more backlog of rape kits in Santa Clara County: officials

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Santa Clara County leaders on Monday said there is no longer a backlog of rape kits to test.

While the policy now mandates all kits must be processed in 30 days, county leaders say they do it even faster: It now takes an average of 16 days for a lab to process evidence in a sexual assault and it used take more 94 days to test that evidence.

Two years ago, the Board of Supervisors made this issue a priority, approving $600,000 to eliminate the backlog of rape kits in the county. Now, leaders say the efforts have paid off. They have hired additional lab technicians, who were focused solely on processing the evidence in those kits.

Anytime someone reports they're a victim of rape or sexual assault, they go through a physical exam at a medical facility. DNA and other physical evidence is collected.

The District Attorney's Office said just this month, a young woman from San Jose was sexually assaulted. The crime lab processed the evidence quickly. Within 48 hours, there was a match to a suspect, and police were able to make an arrest.